Dr. Mutsuaki Murakami releases a new book on novel method of producing high-quality graphite from polymers.

Dr. Mutsuaki Murakami releases a new book on novel method of producing high-quality graphite from polymers.
Japan, On May 7, 2022, a book entitled ““Research on The Development of Advanced Graphite Materials” was published. The author is Dr. Mutsuaki Murakami, a corporate engineer, and is a unique book that summarizes the results of his many years of research and development on graphite materials.

M. Murakami was born in 1946. In 1970 he graduated from Ehime University Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Industrial Chemistry. In the same year, he joined Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (currently Panasonic corporation) started the life as a researcher and technology developer at Matsushita Research Institute of Tokyo (MRIT). In 1986, he received PhD in Science from University of Tokyo. In 2001, he left Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. and joined Kaneka Corporation. Since 2005, he has also been an invited professor at the Center for Extreme Environmental Research and Technology, Osaka University.

He has consistently worked on the work of developing new materials and devices by applying heat, electric current, and light to organic materials and realizing their commercialization, as a researcher and engineer at the companies,. This book summarizes the results of his research on manufacturing high quality graphite from organic polymers (abbreviated as GPP method). This is the greatest achievement of his various R & D efforts. In this book he describes how ADVANCED GRAPHITE is becoming an important material for today’s industry, as well as the various applications and devices that are currently being achieved with graphite.

Graphite is a material that has the potential to innovate the industry in the 21st century because it has extremely excellent physical properties that can be called a super material. For example, the electrical conductivity of high-quality graphite a-b surface is 1/25 times that of copper and 1.6×107 times that of silicon, the carrier mobility is 750 times that of copper and 8 times that of silicon, the thermal conductivity is 5 times that of copper and 12 times that of silicon, and heat resistance is 3 times that of copper and 2 times that of silicon. Therefore, graphite with such excellent properties should be used more as a core material in the industry. However, until recently, it was not possible to produce graphite with such ideal properties on an industrial scale. As a result, various active devices that take advantage of the thermal, electrical, electronic, and mechanical properties of graphite had not been realized.

However, in recent years, advances in the GPP method developed by the authors have made it possible to produce high-quality graphite of various shapes on an industrial scale, and many active devices were born using these graphites. This book introduces the invention of this method, the elucidation of the graphitization mechanism, the progress of manufacturing technology, and the development of various applications.

Dr. Murakami recalls his achievements very conservatively. “It was 40 years ago, that the graphite was prepared from heat-treated polymers. Initially, it was an academic study aimed at developing double bonds by heat-treating a polymer and investigating its relationship with electrical conductivity.” “Since the electrical conductivity of the carbon precursors obtained was significantly different, I wanted to treat this at a higher temperature to make graphite.” “At the time, graphite had never been made from polymers, and many thought such a challenge was pointless. However, it was found that some polymers become very high-quality graphite film (GF) when heat treated at a high temperature of 3000 °C.” This was the first discovery to reveal that high-quality graphite could be obtained from polymers. “Many years have passed since that study, but I still vividly remember the excitement I felt when I discovered in X-ray measurements that these films were high-quality graphite.”

Furthermore, Dr Murakami stated as follows. “Since then, I have continued to research and develop this technique, and with the cooperation of many people, I have realized various forms of graphite and its applications and have explored the true properties of graphite. In fact, there were many challenges and difficulties in realizing a device using the GF obtained by the GPP method. In this book, I described the process of solving those problems and realizing their device and commercialization. To date, no book has been compiled from such perspective and that it is the greatest feature of this book that cannot be found in other books, and that’s the biggest reason I wrote this book.”

The first issue for commercializing the GF was that the film was hard and brittle. This book describes the process of converting such a film into a flexible and tough film (FGF) and realizing its commercialization. The FGF is widely used in mobile phones as a heat diffusion film and has greatly contributed to its widespread use. Today, “heat” is a serious problem in many electronic devices. FGF, which has excellent heat conduction characteristics, is demonstrating great power as a heat control material by demonstrating wisdom according to its application. Currently, the GF produced by the GPP method has grown into a large industry, and its estimated global production value has reached about 1800 M USD.

The second challenge was that the thickness of high-quality GF that could be produced by the GPP method was limited to the 10-75 µⅿ range. The fabrication of thicker graphite was solved by laminating multiple polymer films and graphitizing them. Several applications have already been realized using blocks fabricated by this method. In addition, technologies related to the production of thin film GFs of 10 µⅿ or less have been developed, and many technological improvements have led to the development of thin film GFs in the range of 0.01 µⅿ to 3 µm. The developed thin film GF has excellent electrical and electronic properties similar to those of the highest quality graphite crystals, opening up entirely new applications. The thickness of the graphite produced by these developments differs by a factor of 5 million. This book describes the progress of these R & Ds and explains the expectations for further development.

Dr Murakami states that this research and development will be further developed, and various devices that utilize the excellent physical characteristics of the graphite a-b surface will be realized in the future, and graphite will be a material that will revolutionize the industry. He added that he hopes that this book will give you an insight into the life of one corporate engineer and a whole new world of graphite.

This book has been published by Index of Sciences Ltd. and is available on amazon. Please click on https://www.amazon.com/Research-Development-Advanced-Graphite-Materials/dp/B09TR8HG83 for purchasing this book.

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